An MSNBC host is dodging attacks after arguing he was âuncomfortableâ calling fallen soldiers âheroes.â

Chris Hayes made the remark on Sunday, the eve of Memorial Day, on his show, âUp With Chris Hayes.â

âI feel uncomfortable about the word hero because it seems to me that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war,â Hayes said.

He added that âthere are individual circumstances in which there is genuine, tremendous heroism, you know, hail of gunfire, rescuing fellow soldiers,â but that âit seems to me that we marshal this word in a way that is problematic.â

On Monday, a top veterans group called for Hayes to apologize.

âChris Hayesâ recent remarks on MSNBC regarding our fallen service members are reprehensible and disgusting,â said Richard DeNoyer, National Commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars, to FOX News.

âHis words reflect his obvious disregard for the service and sacrifice of the men and women who have paid the ultimate price while defending our nation. His insipid statement is particularly callous because it comes at a time when our entire nation pauses to reflect and honor the memory of our nationsâ fallen heroes.â

Online, critics were no less harsh.

âMemo to Chris: they are heroes, and you donât get a vote,â wrote Breitbartâs Kurt Schlichter.

Schlichter accused Hayes of making the comment to prove heâs âedgy.â

âAnd whatâs edgier than taking on our troops?â

Political pundit Ann Coulter mocked Hayes on Twitter:

âChris Hayes âUncomfortableâ Calling Fallen Military âHeroesâ â Marines respond by protecting his right to menstruate,â she wrote.

The only defense of Hayesâ comment appeared to come from Hayes himself.

The host took to Twitter to urge followers to watch the entire hour of the show before jumping to conclusions. He also directed them to another one of his showâs segments, in which he discusses how the relationship most Americans have to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is, for the most part, abstract.

Television is the wrong place to be that philosophical, to be an "egghead". 99% of the viewers will not understand how to separate their emotions from analysis, or even that some people can and do make such separations. Fooling around with any society's "heroism projects" (in Becker's sense) is a good way to put yourself in harm's way.

As I have become aware of how crooked out politicians are, on both side of the isle, it takes thought for me to wash away the politicians motivations and automatically grant heroism to those who give their lives to the country. But, I do.

Note... when you spend the rest of your life being a typical politician... I reserve the right to revoke that grant of heroism.

As I have become aware of how crooked out politicians are, on both side of the isle, it takes thought for me to wash away the politicians motivations and automatically grant heroism to those who give their lives to the country. But, I do.

Note... when you spend the rest of your life being a typical politician... I reserve the right to revoke that grant of heroism.

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Well said. I trust that no one will ever doubt the heroism of those who give their lives to defend the country. Perhaps doubt only enters when the lives are being given for unprovoked conflict. In other words, it's always heroic when it's a just war, but...

Here's the way I see it with regard to the use of the word hero, military people only. The use of the word in general has gotten out of hand, but this is my view for military personnel.
Any dummy can enlist. That don't make you a hero. Any dummy can volunteer for combat. That don't make you a hero either. Once you have seen even one minute of combat, and you show up for day two...you're a f'n hero.
Semper Fi

Like everyone else on this thread i kind of understand what he is saying, i think what he was getting at was that if we werent constantly showering praise on military people, less people would sign up for the military, which would force us to do a draft, which would in turn make the military industrial complex think a little harder before they started useless wars, as there would be a lot more outrage if people were being FORCED to die as opposed to making the choice.

With that said, there is simply no way consolidate that thought process with saying "Im uncomfortable calling military people heros" and thinking that was something intelligent to say particularly on memorial day, and particularly as a news anchor.... That the guy even thought he was going to get away with it, let alone thinking it was an intelligent comment, shows that he simply has no critical thinking skills, and he deserves to be lit up.

What he did brings back flashbacks of vietnam where people were spitting on war vets..... Regardless of how much you hate the war, it doesnt ever change the fact that the people fighting and dying in it are heros.....

Quote from CaptainObvious:

Here's the way I see it with regard to the use of the word hero, military people only. The use of the word in general has gotten out of hand, but this is my view for military personnel.
Any dummy can enlist. That don't make you a hero. Any dummy can volunteer for combat. That don't make you a hero either. Once you have seen even one minute of combat, and you show up for day two...you're a f'n hero.
Semper Fi

Yeah, his timing couldn't have been worse. I never got spit at, but did have a beer bottle thrown at me when I got back. Truthfully, I didn't give a shit at the time. By the early 70's nobody expected to be treated well.

Quote from Max E. Pad:

Like everyone else on this thread i kind of understand what he is saying, i think what he was getting at was that if we werent constantly showering praise on military people, less people would sign up for the military, which would force us to do a draft, which would in turn make the military industrial complex think a little harder before they started useless wars, as there would be a lot more outrage if people were being FORCED to die as opposed to making the choice.

With that said, there is simply no way consolidate that thought process with saying "Im uncomfortable calling military people heros" and thinking that was something intelligent to say particularly on memorial day, and particularly as a news anchor.... That the guy even thought he was going to get away with it, let alone thinking it was an intelligent comment, shows that he simply has no critical thinking skills, and he deserves to be lit up.

What he did brings back flashbacks of vietnam where people were spitting on war vets..... Regardless of how much you hate the war, it doesnt ever change the fact that the people fighting and dying in it are heros.....

Yeah, his timing couldn't have been worse. I never got spit at, but did have a beer bottle thrown at me when I got back. Truthfully, I didn't give a shit at the time. By the early 70's nobody expected to be treated well.

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Must have felt like such a kick in the teeth coming back to that, after you had just spent so much time in that hell hole.... Thank you for your service!